


Second Chance

by TheAnimeWriterLover



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Angst, Childhood Friends, Drama, F/M, Family, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, No Bashing, Possibility of long story, Reincarnation, Supernatural - Freeform, Tsuna is Jack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-20 01:30:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11325861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAnimeWriterLover/pseuds/TheAnimeWriterLover
Summary: Jack became a guardian, but was so alone even then. One evening, he wished to become a human again, to be given a second chance. MiM gives him the chance. What will happen next? Will he wish to return to be Jack Frost or stay as Tsunayoshi Sawada?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wish to give credit to my brother, since he helped me with this story.

Jack Frost hummed lightly as he walked upon the electrical cables of the electric tower. Underneath his bare feet the cables froze. His ice blue eyes looked up at the night sky, with a thoughtful and sad look. He twirled his magical staff, which looked like a shepherd's cane, in his right hand while his other hand was stuffed in his blue hooded sweater's pocket. His white hair moved slightly along with the wind. The physical 14 years old spirit stopped where he stood. His eyes stayed locked at the sky, as they outlined all of the constellations and remembered the stories from different cultures attached to them.

It was December 23rd. Christmas was just around the corner. It had been a few years since the defeat of Pitch, and everybody was happy. There was no more fear. No more nightmares, nothing like that. Jack sighed as he remembered that day. It was just a day or two after Easter. He thought his life was going to get better. He was now a guardian, a protector that looked over the children of Earth. His center was Fun, something that suited him quite well. He now worked alongside Santa Clause, Tooth Fairy, Sandman and Easter Bunny, or better known as North, Tooth, Sandy and Aster. They were supposed to work together. They were supposed to be one big family, like they've promised.

It was then that Jack realized that they only told lies.

Yes, they had kept their promise in the beginning. But slowly, as months came and went, he saw less and less of them.

_We're busy_

That was the number one statement that he heard from them.

Liars, the whole bunch of them, they still viewed him as a troublemaker. He saw it in their eyes. He heard it in their voices. He was nothing but a spirit that brought death and disaster.

Jack's grip on his cane tightened harshly. Why? Just... why? Why couldn't anybody accept him? Why did the other spirits give him such a hard time? He didn't bring only death and distraction. He only wished to bring the children fun times and snow days. Why couldn't people see that? There are so many questions, but none of them were answered.

The albino spirit then thought about his human family, his little sister and mother. His father wasn't in the picture, at least not in his human memories. All he remembered was living with his mother and baby sister for all his life. He worked hard to earn money so that there was food on the table. He left the house early morning and came back home late in the evening. Once he stepped into the house, he ate dinner then collapsed in bed. Yes, he did have his fun times, but only on the religious days. Those days were the only days out there that he could act like a child. Not a child that grew up too fast.

Jack's grip relaxed at the memories of the two most important females in his lives. He sighed softly. Most spirits would call him crazy, but he actually missed being human. At least as a human he wasn't ignored. He was acknowledged by both everybody around him and his family. They saw how hard he worked. So when he had his days to have fun nobody stopped him, but they did warn him to be careful since he was rather reckless back then.

Jack sighed softly once again. Maybe he was overreacting. It wouldn't be the first time, really. He then decided to visit North. He was like a father figure to him. Even in his work day he wouldn't ignore him... right? Jack thought that wasn't the case. So he took a trip to North's' Workshop, with the thought that he would be acknowledged. So, with that, he yelled to the wind:

"Wind! Take me to North's place!"

All of a sudden, the wind picked up. Jack jumped and let the wind guide him to the destination that he wished to be at.

-ooOOoo-

Jack arrived at North's workshop. It was extremely busy. Everybody ran around, even the elves, as they tried to get ready for Christmas. The winter spirit asked Phil where North was, the creature said something that sounded gibberish to the young spirit. Jack figured that the old man was in his office. He flew above many of the creatures that ran through the hallway. If he walked instead, he was sure that he would have been squashed by the yetis.

It didn't take long for Jack to reach North's' office. He knocked on the door. There was a muffle of:

"Come in"

The white head did just that. He walked into the office and saw how busy it looked. He opened his mouth to greet the man:

"Hey North, I-"

Jack was cut off.

"Jack! Can't you see that I'm busy? I have many things to do before I have to go."

The winter spirit shut his mouth. He then reopened it with a question:

"Do you need help?"

North waved him away.

"No"

It was a simple answer, but one that hurt the young spirit. Jack countered rather angrily:

"But I can help with the presents!"

He tried. But once again, he was waved away as if he was an annoying fly that wouldn't leave anybody alone.

"No"

Once again, the same answer was given to Jack. The teenager frowned deeply. Fine, if he didn't need his help, then he'd go somewhere else. He left the building. He hopped onto his magical cane and with the help of the wind he went to Tooth's place next.

-ooOOoo-

By the time that Jack got to Tooth's place, it was early in the evening. Her home was more like a castle than anything else. It wasn't that hard to get around once you followed the mini fairies. He reached the main room where the Tooth Fairy always was at, but she was nowhere in sight. He then saw a familiar little fairy that flew to him. He smiled brightly at the sight of Baby Tooth. She looked like a miniature figure of the real Tooth Fairy, but was much smaller than her. He asked the little fairy:

"Baby Tooth! Do you know where Tooth is?"

The fairy said something that sounded like humming bird, but he couldn't fathom what she said. He said awkwardly:

"Yeah... I'll find her myself."

He flew off after a goodbye. He forgot that he couldn't truly understand the mini fairies language. He was good at guessing, but when it came to a specific destination he never could figure it out.

So, he went out to look for Tooth. He couldn't locate her in the palace after a few hours, which led him to believe that she was out gathering teeth herself. With that, he flew off in search for her.

-ooOOoo-

While Jack looked for Tooth, he hovered over Australia. This was like his 50th location. He figured that she was too busy. Plus, there were thousands of locations in the world. He liked playing guessing games, but didn't have much patience for it at the moment. He could visit her later. Right now, he had a favorite bunny to annoy. Unknown to Aster, the Easter Bunny, he knew the traps that led him to the Warren.

Jack knew that Easter was way off, so the giant bunny had no excuse.

He flew down and touched the ground. The location appeared to be nothing but a desert. The blue eyes held a spark of mischief. He stomped onto the ground a few times. A small hole appeared. Jack flew through it, and the hole closed behind him. A small flower appeared as its replacement.

Jack whooped as he slid down the tunnels at high speed. Small eggs with different designs appeared behind him. They made high pitched noises and followed him, also whooping as they slid down the tunnel. The winter spirit landed in the Warren. He looked around, expecting to come to the sight of a lazy giant rabbit. What he found, instead, was his giant rabbit friend, busy as a bee. He hopped here to there. Grabbed a few of the eggs or guided them into a colorful river. It seemed to be that there was a thousand of things he had to do all at once. Maybe Jack could help?

"Hey Kangaroo"

The giant rabbit's left ear twitched towards the winter spirit's direction. Aster groaned loudly. He asked bitterly:

"What are you doing here Frostbite?"

"What? Can't I visit my friend?"

A _tch_ was heard from Aster. He turned to face Jack and asked him suspiciously:

"Why are you _really_ here?"

Jack sighed softly. Why couldn't he believe him? Okay, he may have wanted to annoy him in the beginning, but even he knew not to mess around when somebody was busy. Anyways, he liked painting. He replied:

"Do you need help?"

"No, I'm too busy to entertain you."

Once again, those three simple words: _I'm too busy_. Couldn't they let Jack help them at least?

Jack thought that maybe Sandy would like some company instead.

"Fine... Whatever."

The winter spirit said after he sent a dirty look at Aster. He left through one of the tunnels, which led him to Canada.

-ooOOoo-

Jack went to go find Sandy. He thought that he could entertain him, since he couldn't use the sleeping sand to help. He got to his location in a matter of seconds because Sandy was working at Canada at that time. It wasn't that hard to find him, due to the trail of sand he left behind. It didn't take that long before Jack saw the sandman, on his cloud, handing out pleasant dreams to the sleeping children.

"Hey Sandy!"

Jack greeted his friend. The golden man looked up. He smiled then waved in greeting. When the winter spirit flew over, he saw that, as usual, the sandman responded with pictures that were made by his golden sand. A picture of a pencil and paper appeared, signaling that Sandy was busy working.

"Oh, right... You are also busy, delivering dreams."

He said embarrassed. He forgot that Sandman was always busy.

After a few hours, Jack left as there was nothing to do as he was being ignored by Sandy.

-ooOOoo-

Jack returned home, to Burgess, United States. He landed gently onto the water. It froze underneath his feet. It was early winter, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise. The young spirit sat down, a bit gloomy. _Why can't they at least let me help?_ He thought a bit annoyed. He wouldn't mind leading the eggs into the colorful river. He wouldn't have even minded just wrapping presents. At least he would help them somehow.

Once more, his thoughts went back to being a human.

"At least as a human I won't be ignored."

Jack said out loud. He looked up at Man in Moon. He glowed brightly in the dark sky. His big hollow eyes stared down at him. The winter spirit all a sudden heard a soft and smooth response in his mind.

_Do you wish to become human once again?_

Jack jumped out of his skin in fright. What? Where did that voice come from? He looked around with anxious. He expected to be attacked. After a few minutes, nothing happened. He lowered his cane as he came into realization. He looked up at Man in Moon, with his curious ice blue eyes. He asked:

"Was that you?"

_Yes, Jack Frost. Do you wish to become human again?_

_Do I? Yeah, it would be nice. I have thought about it all day today, after all. But would I want to do it?_ Jack thought. Still, something wasn't right. He asked with suspicions:

"What's the catch?"

_You will not be reborn into the person you once were. Instead, you will be reborn into another person. You might get your memories back over time once you become human. Yet, you will still have your powers completely intact. The only memory you won't ever regain, is of this discussion if you ever become Jack Frost once again._

"For how long will I be human? 1 day? 1 month? 1 year?"

_You are given one life time. Once you die, you will be given two choices. To either remain as human and go to the afterlife or become a spirit once more. Do you wish to become human once more, Jack Frost?_

Jack stared at Man in Moon. He thought about the offer with its catches. He might not get his memories back. He might live only for a short while as human. But, then again, what was there to lose?

"Okay, you've got yourself a deal."


	2. Chapter 2

8 years old Tsuna sat on his bed in his room. His brown eyes looked out the window and watched as the sun shined brightly in the sky. Its sun rays hit the floor of his room with gentleness, though it felt anything but that. His nose wrinkled at the heat. It was late August, so the heat was on full blast. There was a fan in his room on and put on full blast to get him to cool down. It helped. His brown eyes wondered away from the window towards the indoors of his room. Getting off the bed, he went over to the blank papers that were on his low table with different pencil crayons around them. He grabbed a regular pencil then started to draw.

As he drew in silence, Tsuna stared at his hands. He let go of the pencil in favor of rubbing his hands together. They were cold to the touch. It was something that wasn't normal. People's hands were warm, but his hands, no matter what he did, were always cold to the touch.

"Why am I so cold?" He asked in a soft whisper. "But I don't feel the cold at all?"

Many others flinched away whenever he made skin contact with them. No matter what he did to try and warm himself up, he'd always ended up with a fever. After some time, he stopped trying. Tsuna heard his mother called to him from downstairs:

"Tsu-kun, get change! Shizuko-chan is coming over soon."

Tsuna groaned. _Great, it won't be long before she shows up. After all, she only lives a few houses away from me._ He knew Shizuko since both of them were babies. It was due to their mothers, who were childhood friends. It wasn't that he didn't like the girl. It was just that she was always so... _awkward_. While he wasn't very good at studying and loved to play, she always had her nose stuck inside a book and could care less about fun times. They were polar opposites! It was like that for as long as he could remember. Whenever they had their ‘play dates’, or so that was what their mothers like to call those times, they always played in their own corner and away from each other.

_She just has to show up when I wanted to draw._ He thought with a pout. He sighed then got up from his spot. He walked over to his closet. He grabbed a short sleeve hooded orange shirt with blue jeans. He changed out of his pyjamas and put the fresh clothes on. Here he hoped not to change for the day and just laze around. It was then that he went back to seat down on the ground in front of the table. He grabbed his pencil and started to draw once again.

Line after line, scribble after scribble, erase after erase, he did it all on that one piece of paper. Tsuna stopped and stared down at the drawing in front of him. He touched the paper gently, as if it would break underneath his fingers. His large brown eyes looked sadly at the drawing. These beings, he knew them, he was sure of it. Counter to popular belief, he had good memory. His memory, in fact, was the best among his peers. It was just that he wasn’t motivated, no thanks to the people around him. But he knew that he never met these beings before. Yet, it felt like the connection between all of them was... almost nonexistence. The young child pushed the drawing away. It fell onto the ground.

Tsuna couldn't look at them. He just couldn't.

Why did he even draw them?

The 8 years old shook his head sharply. It didn't matter. Tsuna got up then went to seat on his bed again, in front of his window. He stared down at the sidewalk in front of him. He watched as two familiar figures walk down to his house. He scoffed at the sight of them. He never liked Shizuko's mother. She was so overbearing. She always gave him hugs that suffocated him and gave him boring books that he put on the shelf and forgot. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate them. As a matter of fact, he did. He loved every gift that he was given and made sure to thank the person. It was just that he always felt like she mocked his intelligence, in the choice of books that she gave him. Sometimes she gave him books about science or math with an additional title _For Dummies_. Other times she gave him something that helped him learn how to write in Japanese better, but the books were for younger children. He wasn't the smartest boy among his peers, but he wasn't stupid.

While Tsuna was lost in his thoughts, he touched the window. He gasped loudly when he saw frost started to form around his hand. He quickly pulled his hand away and the outline of his hand on the window turned into frost. The child looked at the glass in wonder. He reached over to the window to investigate further, but before he could do anything, he heard his mother call from downstairs:

"Tsu-kun, they're here!"

It was his cue to come downstairs, but he didn’t right away. He huffed at the thought of the two females in his house and looked back to the window. He stared as the frost started to melt away, which made him frown in disappointment. He heard his mother call again, but with a hint of impatience this time:

"Tsu-kun"

"Coming!"

Tsuna shouted in respond as he turned around and ran downstairs. He met face to face with the two females that he didn't particularly enjoyed being around. Much to his annoyance, he was pulled into a literal breathtaking hug. The woman squealed as she bear hugged Tsuna.

"Oh, Tsuna-kun, you have grown so much since I have last seen you."

"You have only seen me last week!"

Tsuna exclaimed loudly, as he tried to gasp for air. Luckily, the woman let go of him just before he started to faint. It took the brown headed child a few seconds, and a lot of deep breaths, to regain whatever air he lost. He then looked over at the young girl, whom stood beside her mother. That girl was none other than Shizuko, his 'childhood friend'. The thought made him want to snort. Them and childhood friends in the same sentence, that was nothing but a joke.

Shizuko was the same age as him, only a month younger. She had long black straight hair that reached to her back. Her deep ocean like eyes stared straight at him with an unknown expression. She was always hard to read, so Tsuna didn't even bothered to figure out what went on in her mind. Those pair of eyes hid behind a pair of thin black glasses. She wore a simple blue dress with a pocket at the front that had a flower sewn onto it. Tugged in her arm was a book. That wasn't a surprised, again.

Tsuna wished to go outside and leave the three females alone. But he was taught to be polite, so he asked out in the tone that was expected of him with a hint of bitterness:

"I'm going outside to play. Do you want to come with me Shizuko?"

She responded with a shrug.

Tsuna ran outside rather energetically. Shizuko walked right behind him, calm as the wind. She took one step down the four steps outside then sat down and read her book. In her hands was a book that was called _Esperanza Rising_. Tsuna asked if Shizuko wanted to play something, but Shizuko’s responds was the usual:

"I'm just going to sit here and read."

Tsuna sighed. _I should have known_. Tsuna picked up a random stick, which was a long thin one. He allowed his imagination to go wild for the time being, turning the wooden stick to a long katana sword. He stared at the only tree at the yard. It stood tall and proud, towering over the small two story house, as if it mocked them all. The young male child imagined the tree as a dragon. He then started to whack it, as if he fought the Japanese dragon itself. Shizuko looked over the book. She watched as Tsuna play with disinterest. It was then that she and Tsuna both noticed something. Whenever boy hit the tree the part that was hit turned into frost. He stopped and stared at the frost with a confused look, as he remembered what happened to the window in his room. He heard Shizuko ask:

"How are you doing that?"

Tsuna stared back at her with a surprised look. He replied in uncertainty:

"I'm not too sure."

The young girl walked up to him. The two stared at the tree, which had no frost on it like it once did a few seconds ago. The brown headed boy hit the side of the trunk once again, so to make sure that it wasn’t pure coincidence or their imagination. To their surprise, frost appeared once again. Tsuna repeated his actions a few times. To their horror and fascination, frost continued to show up in the middle of summer. Tsuna then thought of something. He said as he handed over the stick:

"Here, you try hitting the tree."

Shizuko hesitated before she took the stick away from the boy. She turned to the tree and did as she was told, but the tree didn't gain any fresh frost. The two looked at each other before turning their attention back to the tree. Tsuna touched the trunk, which gained more frost in comparison to the stick. The children looked alarmed at what was happening. The boy looked to the girl and started to feel fear. This wasn't normal. What if Shizuko went and told everybody about this? He pleaded:

"Please don't tell anyone about this!"

The black headed girl stared at him with calculating blue eyes. She seemed to be deep in thought about how to respond. Finally, she replied:

"Okay"

Tsuna nearly broke down into tears in relief. Even though they didn’t really like each other that much, it meant a lot to him. Maybe, just maybe, she wasn’t all that bad.

-ooOOoo-

All the guardians gathered in the conference room where the giant globe was. It had been 8 years since all of them had last seen and heard of Jack. At first, they had brushed it off in the first few years, but when Jack hadn't shown up to bother any of them they started to get worried. It was then that they've discovered something important: Jack was missing.

So the search for the winter prince, Jack Frost, had begun.

North yelled anxiously:

"Did any of you find Jack yet!?"

Everyone looked just as anxious and worried. They replied negatively. Aster grumbled:

"We can't find him anywhere! Where has Frostbite run off to?"

Tooth was too busy being worried. She talked fast with many of the fairies that were around her. She gave them orders to search numerous locations around the world in hopes that Jack would be there.

Sandman noticed the moon brightened in the dark night sky. That meant only one thing: MiM wished to speak to them. The sandman tried to get everyone's attention. He pointed an arrow upwards towards the moon, but, as usual, nobody noticed. He tried to whistle, but only a musical note appeared on top of his head. Again, nobody noticed. The short man had steam come out of his ears. He took notice of an elf walking by him with a plate of cookies. Sandy grabbed the elf and shook him roughly. Loud sounds of jingles rang throughout the big room. All the guardians stopped talking and stared at him. Sandy created a moon on top of his head then pointed up at the real moon. The three other guardians looked up and saw that MiM wished to speak with them.

"Oh! Why didn't you say something Sandy?"

North asked. Sandy once more had steam come out of his ears. He folded his arms over his chest and huffed. This looked all _too_ familiar.

"Man in Moon! My dear old friend, do you by any chance know where Jack is?"

_Yes I do_

Everybody started to get hopeful. But before they could ask where he was, Man in Moon cut them off.

_That is why I came to speak to you guardians. None of you will see Jack Frost for a while._

"What?! Why bloody not?"

Aster demanded. He didn't enjoy it when Jack was around messing with his holiday, or pulling pranks on him, but he was still a guardian. At least, that was what he wished for everybody to believe. He had grown fond of the teenage spirit. Either way, he was worried.

_He is off learning a life lesson._


	3. Chapter 3

9 years old Tsuna sat outside. It was the middle of winter. Everything was covered by snow from head to toe. Most people shuffled quickly back home, in hopes to get warmed up. Even his mother was inside, not daring to come outside. She tried to pursue her son to do the same thing, but he ignored her. He liked the cold. Unlike the heat during summer, he didn't feel like he would die from the cold weather. Instead, he felt in his element.

Tsuna stared down at the picture, which he drew that day a year ago. His finger brushed one of the faces in a gentle manner. He grew rather fond of the picture. It held something precious to him. It was something that he would never share with anybody. His bare feet dangled from the edge of the wooden porch. His boots were beside him, out of the sight of his mother's if she checked on him from the inside. He wore a simple jacket, something that someone wore in spring and not winter. His mother tried to get him to wear a warmer jacket with a hat, scarf and gloves. He scoffed at the idea. Didn't the woman know that he was going to die from overheat?

Well, not that she cared. Nana was too busy making a feast fit for a king than pay attention to him. His father was coming home... well, not that Tsuna cared. He'd grown up without the man all his life. Why should he care where he was if he never showed up? Last time he saw the idiotic man was when he was 5. It had been 4 long years. No letters. No phone calls. Not even emails. It was as if he completely forgot that he had a family back in Japan.

"Tsu-kun! Shizuko-chan is here!"

Tsuna folded the picture in half two times before he tugged it inside his jacket's pocket. He forgot that Shizuko was coming over. A second later, the girl appeared beside him. The two had grown... closer, one could say. Since they had found out about his powers, they experimented with it. This forced them to actually hang out together, not in their separate corners. Well, Tsuna wasn't exactly complaining. He never realized until this past year how little he knew about Shizuko. It was rather ironic, because they knew each other all their lives. She was quite intelligent for a child in their age group. She did her best to hide it, but it still didn't stop the other children from ignoring her. Thus, it led her to turn to books for fun instead of actually playing. During those new hang outs, Tsuna managed to get her out of her shell and actually play together.

"Hey Tsuna"

Shizuko said as she sat beside him. Tsuna greeted her with a bright smile:

"Hey!"

"Aren't you cold?"

She asked as she pointed out to his bare feet. His response was a shrug.

"No, it's nice. And the boots are too warm."

Shizuko snorted. She pushed her slight fuggy glasses up.

"I forgot who I was speaking to. You may as well be Jack Frost while at it."

Tsuna found himself amused a lot of the time by her sarcastic jokes, when he actually paid attention. He didn't believe that he'd ever get bored of them. They were like fresh air, one could say. He got used to the sneers and snarky remarks thrown to his direction by bullies. Heck, it'd be surprising if they didn't, since he was Dame-Tsuna. These sarcastic remarks were different. They had no bite and were there to break the ice. But what she made him freeze up.  _Jack Frost_ , he thought at first in slowness,  _why does that feel... familiar_?

"Have you been practicing?"

Shizuko asked, snapping him out of his mind. She looked quite eager to discover what her friend had further found about his powers. The brown headed kid nodded. He gave her a small smile.

"Yeah, look at this."

He grabbed a handful of snow. Opening his hand, there was a small pile of unshaped snow. He blew into it, which made the snow take a circular shape, turning it into a snowball. The brown eyes stared at the girl with mischief. It seemed that his friend figured out what he planned, because she said with warning:

"You wouldn't dare."

Shizuko began to back away from him. Tsuna raised his hand over his shoulder. He twisted his body a bit. The black headed girl's blue eyes narrowed as they gave him a final warning. Ignored the warning, he threw the snowball at her. The snowball hit her square in the face. She squealed as she clawed the snow off of her.

"Cold! Cold! Cold!"

Tsuna was too busy laughing to notice the murderess look on her face. Next thing he knew, a snowball hit his face. His eyes widened at what just happened. He smiled in fake innocence then shouted:

"Snowball fight!"

"I'm not going to lose to you Sawada!"

Shizuko declared. She wasn't afraid of him!

"We'll see about that Tanaka!"

The two stared at each other down, as if they were ready for a battle. They lowered themselves to the ground to gather a bit of snow to shape it into a snowball. Neither of them looked away in fear that they would get hit. 5 seconds later, both threw the snowballs at the same time. Tsuna got a hit while Shizuko didn't.

The war was on!

The children continued their snowball fight for quite a while. Neither noticed that the sun gone down and the full moon appeared high in the sky. Their child laughter broke the quiet atmosphere. Snowballs were thrown in the air, hitting the target or another object. They completely ignored the cold air as it only grew colder.

At some point, the children stopped and collapsed onto the snowy floor. Both ignored the cold as they tried to catch their breaths, which appeared as mists in the cool air. Their heads touched each other as one laid in one direction and the other laid in the opposite. The duo stared up at the dark sky. They admired the stars and the full moon. Tsuna stared at the full moon. He felt someone watched over him. The being had this calm, collective but yet gentle atmosphere. The two giant hollow eyes stared down at them, but somehow the boy felt like it looked at him more so than Shizuko. Tsuna reached his hand out towards the moon, as if expecting to touch it. To his shock, something like that happened. Except that it felt like something brushed his hair as if to reassure him about something. He wasn't quite sure what about.

"Man in Moon"

Tsuna whispered softly.

"Did you say something?"

Shizuko asked after she caught her breath. Tsuna realized what he said and tried to cover it up with a lie:

"I said this was fun."

The black headed girl scoffed. He listened as she complained in light humor:

"It's not fair. You have powers over snow. You have a greater advantage than me."

"All is fair in love and war."

Tsuna said cheekily. That got him a quiet laugh.

"You're impossible"

"Hm, maybe so, but at least I don't have my nose stuck in books all day."

The 9 years old boy teased. Next thing he knew, a pile of snow covered his face. He sat up to brush it all off. He looked over to his friend, whom gave him a smirk. He was about to say something when the two heard their mothers call for them to come inside. The children decided to call this a tie. They would get another chance to get back at the other, later. The duo sat down on the porch. Tsuna had to put his boots on, to show that he 'wore' them. Shizuko stayed behind to wait for him. The boy didn't expect for her to speak. So when she did, he jumped a little in surprise.

"So... what's with all the food?"

Tsuna looked at her for a few seconds before turning his attention back to the boot. He tried to tie the knots with his slight numb fingers. 

"Mama is making food because dad is coming back."

Shizuko noted the tone of voice. She never knew much about the relationship between her friend and his father. She remembered seeing the man only once in her whole life. That meant a lot since she came over almost every day because of their mothers. That man was... an interesting character, she guessed. Last time she saw him, was when he was on the ground, knocked out, with the air around him smelling like alcohol, to the point that she plugged her nose. He was also quite annoying that left her confused more times than not. He was a grown adult, but acted like a child, which made no sense for her advanced 5 years old mind at the time. Shizuko was glad that her father wasn't like this man. She had no idea what she would do if he was.

"Are you glad?"

Shizuko asked. She looked over at Tsuna and watched as the frown deepened on his face.

"I could care less"

With that, the conversation ended.

That one answer gave her a lot of information, if she bothered to look close. But, at the same time, many new questions came to her mind.

"Come on, let's get inside before our moms will come looking for us."

Tsuna said as he tugged onto her jacket's sleeve. She tilted her head at him then nodded in agreement. Both children got up and walked inside.


	4. Chapter 4

10 years old Tsuna and Shizuko stood in front of the girl's house. They watched as an adult after adult came to put boxes into the moving truck. Neither of the duo said anything but watched for a while before they headed to the backyard. They remembered that day. Shizuko’s father announced that they’d move to America, due to a transfer in the company. It had been 5 months since that dreadful announcement. The young girl would be leaving that day. It now wouldn’t be that long before the young 10 years old girl would go. It might be another half hour, from the looks of things. Tsuna still didn’t want to believe it. For the first 10 years of their lives, they were always together, whether they wanted to or not.

The two children sat on the wooden deck in Shizuko’s backyard. The yard was bare of all the decorations that her mother loved to put out. But really, even though it was depressing, the children were glad that they were gone. Those things were creepy in their eyes. All that there was at this point, were the flowers and a small tree that sat there at the corner. It was in the middle of autumn. The leaves were all brownish and orange. They either lied on the ground or let the wind whoosh them away while they did their own little dance. As the wind made its own little hums, as if it played a forgotten melody.

Neither of the children said anything. They stared at the naked backyard with sad expressions. What was the point in exchanging words? There was no point in it, none whatsoever. Both sighed at the same time. Tsuna looked up at the reddish sky, which turned only into darkness as time went on. He didn't like this depression that sat in the air, especially between him and his friend. He frowned then thought of a way to get her to smile. He nudged her on the shoulder, which caught the attention of the black headed girl.

Tsuna looked down at his hands. He moved his hands in a circle motion and in the middle floated an object that took shape little by little. Soon enough, the shapeless small object turned into a glass-like snow globe. Inside were two little icy kids in the middle with snowballs in their hands. When he shook the object, little snowflakes moved around in an elegant and fun manner.

Shizuko looked at in awe. It was then that her friend did something surprising. He handed to her the glass snow globe. Her shocked dark blue eyes looked from the object to the brown headed kid. He grinned at her in encouragement while he nudged the item into her direction. With great care and gentleness, she took the snow globe from his bare cold hands into her warm pair. She was even more surprised when she found that it didn't melt in her hands when it was out of his reach. That didn't make any sense! Every time he created something and it was out of his reach it always returned to what it was before.

This time, it didn't.

Shizuko looked back at Tsuna in confusion. Had he practiced while she wasn't around? Well, it made sense if he was, when she thought about it. Tsuna grinned and looked back between her and the snow globe and did a nudge-like motion. The black headed girl frowned a bit at his nonverbal answer. She looked back at the snow globe in her hands. She brought it up to face level to take a better look at it. She then noticed the smallest of details that he drew into the base of the snow globe. The base was carved with very beautiful snowflakes that had their own unique shapes. It made her stare in pure awe. Not only that, but the base felt solid, and yet it was still see-through.

The two children looked back at each other. Shizuko put down the snow globe beside her then tackled him in a hug with her arms around his neck. His face turned red at the actions. What was he supposed to do? Was he supposed to hug back or stay still?

Fortunately for Tsuna, he didn't need to do either because Shizuko pulled away. A bright smile was on her face.

"Shizu-chan! We're leaving!"

Shizuko's mother yelled from the inside of the house.

"Coming!"

Shizuko answered back.

The happiness between the children disappeared in a second. Sadness replaced it. The duo got up, after the girl took the snow globe, then walked into the house and out to the front. A taxi parked at the front right behind the moving truck, which drove away the second that they walked out. Shizuko’s father was inside the taxi while the mother motioned for her daughter to get into the car.

Shizuko looked down sadly for a moment before she looked back at her male friend. He stood beside his mother that looked as sad that her best friend was to leave to another country. She told Tsuna:

"Good bye, Tsuna."

She didn't wait for a respond. Instead, she ran to the taxi with the snow globe snuggled up into her chest in a secure grip. Tsuna watched her with wide brown eyes as she got inside with her mother. Then the family drove off into the distance. He ran to the front of the gate and stared down the street that the taxi disappeared to. His eyes traveled to the dark gray ground in front of him. There were wet dots that created a trail to where the taxi was. Slowly, he looked back up. He held back the urge to cry. He whispered to his friend that was long gone:

"Good bye, Shizuko."

Somehow, deep down inside, he knew that it would not be their last time.

-ooOOoo-

Tsuna sat in his dark room alone. It had been two hours since his best friend left. It was also two hours since he walked into his bedroom and hadn't come out for anything. No matter what his mother tried to do, he didn't budge. Not even the mention of his favorite food made him reply. The 10 year old sat in the corner and practiced his powers, which wasn't much. He had put all his energy into the creation of that snow globe. The most he did by then was creating small snowflakes, which weren't that impressive as before.

He was exhausted.

Tsuna looked at his desk where a few picture frames rested. One of which was with his mother. Another was with Shizuko. The last was the drawing that he made those few years ago. It took a while to get the picture frame, but after he begged his mother to let him put the picture in one she finally gave in. She got him a brownish frame that made the ink that he drew the white paper on pop out. The pencil markings began to disappear after the first year. It was because he always seemed to have that picture on him, so it was always exposed to the elements. After the child found out about the ink and the idea to draw with it, he redrew the whole thing.

Tsuna yawned loudly. He was dead tired after this long emotional day. He slowly got up and simply collapsed onto his bed.

-ooOOoo-

_Tick... tock..._

_Tick... tock..._

_Tick... tock..._

The clock ticked and tacked every second. The short hand inside the clock pointed towards _12_. While the long one moved towards the number. Soon enough, it hit the number _12_ and the second hand continued to go clock-wise.

A small noise of discomfort came from Tsuna. He moved from his previous position, which was laying on his stomach, to flip onto his back. His eyebrows knitted together while his head moved from side to side.

_"Jack!"_

_A deep Russian accented voice shouted. Tsuna snapped his eyes open and watched as a shocking scene took place in front of him. He wasn't sure where he was- okay he did know. He was in the middle of a town, but which one was debateable. He took notice that the boards on the shops were written in another language that wasn't Japanese._

_"Watch your back!"_

_A teenage voice replied frantically. Tsuna looked at the directions of the voices only to meet with five strange individuals. There were four males and one female. The woman was a lot like a bird, a colorful one at that, with how she flew around with the use of her wings. The biggest man had a white beard and double swords, one in each hand, and a heavy red coat. The third person was small, about Tsuna's height, maybe, and was covered in gold. The fourth person wasn't even human, but a giant rabbit with a boomerang in his hand. Finally, the last person was a young teenager with white hair, blue eyes and a shepherd's cane. What was even more surprising, about that teenager, was that he used the same frost magic that he used in his life._

_Tsuna simply stared at the group in shock. It was impossible! What was going on?!_

**_Boom_ **

_Tsuna jumped and looked up at the direction of the blast. His eyes widened as he saw an army of black horses that rode towards the group in high speed. The group of five people fought against them with all their power and strength as they moved forward. It was as if they tried to get to someone. The child tried to follow them, but found that for one he couldn't and for two that the scene moved for him. He continued to watch until the team got to their destination. That destination was a scary looking tall pale man that dressed in all black._

_Unfortunately, during the whole fiasco, the team was separated._

_The pale man attacked forward with a huge weapon of his towards the white headed boy. A group of voices shouted at the same time:_

_" **Jack!** "_

-ooOOoo-

Tsuna gasped loudly as he jerked awake. His brown eyes widened in shock at the ceiling.

_W-What... what was that?_

His thoughts were on hold when he felt another presence in the room. With his body shaken to the core, the boy tilted his head forward until his chin met his chest. He saw the sight of a tall lean man in a black cloak stood in front of his desk. The man held a picture in his hand with a look of great interest in his frightful yellow-silvery eyes. Tsuna lost his voice at the sight of him. Fear washed upon his body to the point that he frozen to the spot.

The man looked at him and Tsuna's heart simply _stopped_ at that point. A smirk appeared on the pale skin. The mysterious man placed the picture with carelessness onto the wooden desk and walked over. Tsuna felt the urge to scream, but it was caught in his throat.

"Look what we have here. Isn't this just precious?" The man cooed with his deep slithery voice. He rubbed his hands together as if he had just won a grand prize. "I knew that MiM did something big. I _felt_ it. But never in my life have I thought that you'd be turned into a _human_." He parted his hands only to grasp them behind his back. "You know, the guardians are looking for you. They've been making quite the ruckus lately."

It seemed that finally his voice was back. When it was, Tsuna asked nervously:

"W-What do y-you mean b-by that? W-W-Who _are_ you?"

The mysterious man _tched-tched_ a few times while he shook his head in mock disappointment. The look of delight didn't disappeared once. In fact, it only increased.

"That just hurts Jack, but you'll find out soon enough."

The light from the moon stretched into the bedroom through the open window. The man jumped back before the light touched him. He sneered at it, as if it was alive and had offended him. He threatened both him and… the light?

"I'll be back."

Next thing Tsuna knew, the man walked into the shadows and _disappeared_.

Tsuna found the courage to get up. He got out of bed in a flash and made his way to his desk where the picture laid there where that _thing_ put it. He stared at the picture with a wide expression. It was all clear now what he drew.

He drew those people from the dream.

Little did he know, Tsuna was about to experience a series of common dreams within the near future.

-ooOOoo-

The guardians, even after MiM told them not to, continued on with their search. They had a fellow guardian to search for. They couldn't just seat back and wait for him to reappear.

After so long, the guardians were left with no choice but to ask a human for help. That human they knew since he was a child. He helped them defeat the dangerous Boogeyman, Pitch Black, 13 years ago. They haven't kept in touch with the children since that battle. The only one that _had_ kept in touch was Jack, but the winter spirit would talk just with his first believer, Jamie Bannett. That was their ticket to discovering what happened to their fellow guardian.

Unfortunately, let's just say that they went to greet him in the _old_ fashioned way.

_Bang!_

A red large bag landed in front of the four anxious guardians. Whatever that was in the bag, had moved around in extreme with the determination to get out. Finally, the rope around the opening of the bag was undone which, in return, opened the entrance. The thing that was inside the bag quickly made its way out. The sight that met them nearly stopped their beating hearts. What they expected was what they got, but with an extra something that they weren't prepared for.

In front of them stood 23 years old Jamie. He looked like a fully grown Jack, except that he had the brown hair and eyes and a taller built body. The adult human looked at them in displeasure. He barked:

"What was that for?!"

The first guardian that was snapped out of their mind was Tooth. She looked ready to cry.

"We're looking for Jack, and we thought that you might know where he is."

Jamie looked at them surprised.

"Jack's missing?"

He whispered in shock. Aster frowned a bit in confusion.

"You... didn't know?"

"Know? Of course I didn't know!" Jamie replied with a glare. "13 years ago he told me that he'll be back by next winter but he never showed up."

"Oh my moon..." North breathed out with wide eyes as he looked at the adult. "If you haven't seen him for 13 years, how can you still see us?"

The human adult snorted at the question. He answered with the same harsh tone as before but with a touch of coldness:

"I always believed in Jack. If it wasn't for him I would have forgotten about you four." He paused for a moment. "You know what? I'm actually am glad that he's gone. I hope he’s happier wherever he is now, away from _you_."

Jamie has grown up a lot throughout these 13 years. He was an adult and saw the harshness that life threw at him. As the years went by, with no signs of his friend Jack returning, the male came to a realization. He realized how miserable his friend was for the past few years that they had known each other. That was before his disappearances. After all, as a child he never noticed it, since he was so innocent at the time with no experience of the harsh reality. Now he knew better.

Jamie also realized who the source of Jack's misery was.

He watched with satisfaction how put down the guardians were when they found out the reason behind his belief in them. They looked miserable. _Good_ , he thought, _that should teach them a lesson_. Especially since they only now, after 13 long years, came to him with the news.

Sandy tried to be the most rational one among the group. The other men looked rather angry at what was being told to them while Tooth looked shocked. This was not what they expected of the once upon a time innocent and sweet child. The golden man made a question mark out of sand above his head. Jamie rolled his eyes in disbelief.

"You don't get it do you? _You're_ the reason why he's gone! He has been so miserable ever since I've known him. I had enough time to look back to my memories and reflect on his behavior. He was most miserable whenever he visited all of you."

Tooth could not hold it back any longer. She began to cry.

"How _dare_ you-"

Aster hissed in rage while he took out his trusty boomerang off of his back. His 6'1'' height did not intimidate the 5'11'' man. In fact, the human stood taller with his fists on his waist and he glared with his brown raging eyes. Jamie scowled right back:

"I dare because it's the _truth_!"

Right before Aster's rage took over, North stood between the two. The two men looked at Father Christmas. Their attention on each other mixed with rage was still there. The white headed man spoke in softness in his Russian accent towards the human:

"I see. Thank you for telling us." He signalled to one of the yetis. "You'll be sent home now."

Jamie stared at the man for long few moments then nodded in acceptance. He followed the yeti. All the other yetis left, since they weren't needed anymore. The elves already left since they feared the might-soon-to-be-fight between the human and the guardians. Soon enough, only the guardians were left.

Sandy tried his best to comfort the heartbroken Tooth.

Aster had other things in mind.

"Aren't you bloody mad that he insulted us like that?!"

"Of course I am, but there's no point in fighting. We got our answer."

North replied while he walked up to the globe. The globe was the same as always, except that, this time, there were far more bright dots. Those additional dots were the believers of Jack. They were far and few in between, but they were still there. Aster hopped to keep up with the man.

"That doesn't make any sense. You were right beside me ready to punch the lights out of that brat."

"How can I hurt him when he might be right?"

North spoke in sadness, his shoulders heaved down at the thought.

"Awww, is someone sad?" A familiar mocking deep, slithery voice was heard from all around them. The four guardians' heads snapped towards all directions in search of the source of the voice. A black clothed figure appeared on top of the globe. A dark smirk plastered on his face. "Do you need a few tissues?"

"Pitch!"

Aster hissed lowly, his body leaped over to the top of the globe only to discover that their enemy disappeared.

"Now, now, is that any way to treat a guest?"

The Boogeyman asked while he appeared in another high place.

"Why are you here?"

Tooth demanded of him. Her little helpers that appeared with the usual reports hid behind her in fright.

"Hm, nothing much really. I simply came to drop by for a small chat. But I guess that it won’t happen.” He mocked a sad look. “I see that you're too busy looking for little old Jack." At that, a smirk replaced his sad look in an open mocking manner. This time Sandy tried to attack him, but the Boogeyman did the same as he did when the giant rabbit attacked him. He disappeared then reappeared in another spot. "I'm afraid that he is not who he once was."

"What have you done to him!?"

North roared. He took out his double swords that rested on his back. Pitch laughed at them.

"I haven't done anything to him... yet. However, let's make this interesting. How about we have a race against time? You have 4 years to find Jack, or else I'll get to him before you do." He paused for a delicate moment with a thoughtful look. "Don't worry. I won't do anything to him as long as MiM is watching. After those four years, he's _mine_."

He slithered into the darkness and disappeared.


	5. Chapter 5

A few months have gone by since that weird dream that Tsuna experienced. After he woke up later in that morning, he found that there was no evidence of the being. So being the logical 10-year-old that he was, he could only conclude that it was a nightmare. He must have gotten it because of his best friend’s departure. The thought of it made him frown over the pile of homework that he went through.

Yes, he, Sawada Tsunayoshi, was doing his homework.

He studied hard since that unfortunate day. Day in and day out. Sometimes in between breaks he’d grab a book from a class and try to study. If… no… _when_ Shizuko would return, he wanted to surprise her. Many times, she complained that he didn’t take his studies as serious as he should. Once she discovered it was due to lack of help. Since then, she took it upon herself to teach him the best she could. After all, how could he understand the material if nobody bothered to explain it to him? He was one of those students that needed time to understand the material with a bit more explanation.

In a way, this was one of the only things that connected the two together.

Tsuna wanted to keep up with her in conversations. He wanted to have another thing in common with her. He didn’t want to embarrass her any further for being friends with _the_ Dame-Tsuna. He wanted to prove to her that she never wasted time being his friend. There were so many reasons, but none of which he voiced when asked.

With all that studying, slowly, but surly, his grades started to rise. Nobody knew how to react. At first, they didn’t. His grades rose from around 20% to 30%. When he saw the slight improvement, it energized the 10-year-old to try harder. That was the first month. The second month it rose to average of 40%. That number started to weird people out. His teachers always gave him odd looks, almost like they saw him in a new light. It was nice, Tsuna decided, but he was still not satisfied with it. Now, his average grades were between 50-60%. At this point, none of his peers knew how to act around him. He was supposed to be Dame-Tsuna, the one that failed at practically everything. If he could finally pass with an okay grade, then what were they supposed to call him? How were they supposed to act around him?

All of this flew over Tsuna’s head, from lack of care. His teachers stopped ignoring him. They instead explained a bit more of the material when they saw he wasn’t a lost cause. The explanations weren’t as good as Shizuko’s, but he wouldn’t dare say it to his teachers faces. He didn’t need to get on their bad side. Another nice thing was that his usual bullies backed off. The shock has yet to leave their systems. If he was a cocky person, he’d walk around with a smug look, but didn’t.

He didn’t need the extra trouble.

At least his mother and their neighbours backed off as well. His mom, bless her heart, almost broke down in tears when he came home with his first 50% mark. That evening she made his favourite food for dinner as part of the celebration. Praises flew at him nonstop throughout the cooking and dinner periods. She even put the test up on the fridge, with a beaming, proud smile that he never saw before.

This only motivated Tsuna even more than ever. If he couldn’t do well on sports, then the least he could improve his life with his grades. Still… it’d be nice to get rid of the clumsiness. There was no way that it was natural how many times he tripped over midair. _So, if I can get better grades by working hard…. Can I do the same with my balance?_ He wondered. _But how am I supposed to do it? I don’t know anything about sports._

The more he thought about it, the more it sounded impossible.

In the end, Tsuna gave up on his homework for the time being and headed to bed. They weren’t due for another few days anyways, and he couldn’t concentrate on them. He hoped tomorrow he’d get a better idea of what to do.

-ooOOoo-

The whole day was uneventful. Classes were the same as always, as well as his classmates and teachers’ actions. Overall, it was boring. Last class of the day was gym and he was stuck cleaning up alone, again. Of course, his classmates would do that behind their gym teacher’s back. After all, he was the reason they lost. Yeah right, like that was true. Tsuna only stood in the corner, out of everyone’s way, and it was his fault that they lost.

Why did he bother?

The brown headed child sighed as he sweeps the floor of the imaginary filth. Not a moment later, his brown eyes landed on one of the balance beams. The wooden plank sat almost up against the wall. There was a bit more than an arm’s length between it and the wall. So that nobody could use the said wall for steadiness. Tsuna stopped his sweeping and stared at it. Could it be…? Was it possible…? _It must be. I mean, it’s in the title._ He concluded with a healthy amount of uneasiness. He looked back at the broom in his hands, as if it became an interesting specimen. His body twitched, before he looked back up at it.

“It… it wouldn’t hurt to try… I guess.”

He mumbled as he placed the broom up against the wall. The feet dragged his body along, but not too fast. In a way, it was almost like he approached a sleeping dragon or something. It didn’t take him too long to reach it.

Now what?

Tsuna looked at it with critical brown eyes, unsure if the idea was good all the sudden. Unknown to him, as he was too focused on the beam, a pair of eyes watched him with interest. The child with the plank took a deep breath and placed one foot on it. With the leftover courage, he placed the other foot right after. His arms stretched to his sides, in hopes that it’d help him keep the balance. What didn’t help much that his bottom body shook violently. It almost made the child shriek and jump off, but he couldn’t.

 _I need to do this. Let me try._ Tsuna told his body and mind, in hopes that they’d let him. They didn’t object, so he took that as a ‘go ahead’. Now, if only he could put the other foot at the front. Slow as possible, the back foot lifted to move forward. It was slow process, but when it touched the wooden plank and he didn’t fall, he breathed in relief. His head started to pound, hard. He winced and grabbed it, eyes clenched close from the pain. Not once had he noticed that he misplaced the next footing and was about to fall.

“Sawada, watch out!”

A voice shouted and a pair of footsteps sprinted to him. The headache only grew worse. It felt like his ice powers gathered around a spot on his forehead. They circled around the spot and squeezed it. It, in return, fought the powers off and expended. Not only did he have the mother of all headaches. He now had the next level of brain freeze. _Not_ a good combination, especially with how strong they were. The world around him went unnoticed.

A pair of arms circled around him, and everything went black.

-ooOOoo-

_“Not… ready… not… enough…”_

_A young female voice spoke throughout the darkness._

_“Who’s there?”_

_Tsuna called out, unafraid, much to his surprise. Instead, he felt relaxed and sad when he heard that voice._

_“Give it… time…”_

_Another familiar voice spoke, a male one this time. It seemed like it wasn’t directed to him, which only got confirmed a second later._

_“… no time…! Pitch… need… protect… get rid… seal…”_

_Tsuna noted how it started to sound like a line on the telephone started to break with static between the words. What was going on?_

_“I… protect him… no worry… push… deadline…”_

_“Guardians…”_

_“Leave… to me…”_

_“Time… big brother… miss you… back… not ready…”_

_It felt like a small figure wrapped their arms around his stomach and gave him a tight hug. Not a moment later, the ghost-like figure pushed him towards the light._

-ooOOoo-

“S…da… Sa…da… Sawada, wake up!”

Tsuna opened his eyes slowly and groaned at the pain the lights gave his eyes. To his surprise, a shadow blocked the light, which lessened the pain. He almost sighed in relief. Now he could focus on opening his eyes all the way. When he did, the brown headed boy looked up in surprise at the figure beside him.

“Y… Ya-Yamamoto-san!” He cried out in surprise. What was Yamamoto Takeshi, the rising baseball star in the school’s team, doing sitting beside him? Not only that, but why did he look concerned? It looked so foreigner on him, with the smile gone and worrisome shadowed his brown eyes. Tsuna looked around them, taking note that they were still at the gym.  “W-What happened?”

The other boy sighed in relief. He gave a weak chuckle.

“You fainted and was about to fall and hit your head, but I caught you in time. How are you feeling?”

The new awakened child grabbed the side of his head and rubbed it in confusion. _What was that dream?_ _No… was it even a dream?_ He wondered with a hint of fear. The last thing he wanted was another episode with that shadow thing. When he realized that he has yet to answer the question, Tsuna looked down embarrassed. A blush brushed against his cheeks.

“Y-Yes, I-I’m fine.”

Yamamoto didn’t believe him. It was written on his face. Yet, it was only for a second before it got replaced by the usual smile. The other boy took note how strained it looked. Even though it was identical to, what was known as, the ‘Yamamoto-smile’. Was it… was it fake?

“Come on, the gym is clean. I’ll walk you home.”

“E-Ehhhhhhhh?!” Tsuna squeaked from the revelation as he got up. A bit unstable on his feet, but it wasn’t unusual. “You don’t have to!”

The black headed boy simply laughed it off. He grabbed one of the other boy’s hands and dragged him towards the gym’s double doors.

“Of course, I’ll go. I can’t have you walk around alone with a chance of fainting again.”

Tsuna looked onwards in startle as he heard a strained tone in his voice. What… what did that mean? Did he scare and worried Yamamoto? Unsure of what to say or think, the young boy didn’t say anything. In return, his companion also didn’t respond. The silence between them was… comforting. Odd, but comforting and almost natural. Yet, he could tell that something was still off. Was it the odd expressions that the other kept on making? Those questions, and more, plagued his mind. Time became fluid and events became a blur. It was as they were in front of his house that everything clicked into place. But he didn’t say anything. Tsuna only grinned knowingly.

“I’ll get going now. Be careful Sawada, okay?”

Yamamoto sent him a cheerful smile. One that now Tsuna knew wasn’t real. The brown headed boy shook his head.

“How about you come in? You can stay for dinner.”

Brown pair of eyes blinked in surprise at the invitation. The outer persona broke, letting through the shock and awkwardness. Yamamoto shuffled in his spot, unsure of what to say. His eyes looked away with nervousness. He had been asked in the past by his ‘friends’ to come over, but he always said no. Why would he go over to someone’s house that was only his friend because he was popular? But… but Tsuna wasn’t like that, right? If he was, he’d have tried to be his friend like everyone else. Have seen him only as the upcoming star baseball player. Not _him_ , the real Yamamoto. One that loves baseball, but also is a bit depressed. Depressed as realization of the nature of his friendships hovered over him. And he was barely 10 years old, at that.

“I-I don’t want to intrude-”

Yamamoto spoke with a quiet voice. A hand grabbed his, which startled him. Tsuna smiled down at him from the extra two steps. With a little tug, he brought him closer.

“Mama always likes to make food for people. You won’t intrude.”

That smile… it wasn’t like the ones he saw in the mirror. The ones that he saw the others give him. It was bright and full of warmth. Warmth that didn’t quite match the hand, which was almost ice cold. But… it somehow made him relax. Blinking slowly, the black headed boy studied the odd emotions. Along with those, he felt happy and even hopeful. This didn’t feel fake. This felt like nothing compared to other friendships or what he shared with his peers. It was as if he came back home. Once more, he blinked. Soon, a smile, a true one, graced his lips. With a nod and happy noise to make known of his agreement, the two boys walked inside.

Neither knew that they began to connect in more ways than a basic friendship. One that would last for a long, long, time.

-ooOOoo-

_Dear Shizuko,_

_I have this great idea for us to do. How about we write each other letters? So that we won’t forget one another? I’ll start first! :D_

_How are you? How is America? What is it like? I hope everything is alright._

_Things were boring since you left. Nothing much is going on. Everything is mostly the same. There are a few things that are different, but you’re not going to find out until you come back._ _:)_ _It’s a surprise_ _! And_ _I also had this really, really, weird dream. There was this creepy guy that came out of nowhere. He kept calling me Jack and talking about some sort of Guardians. Weird, right?_

_Also, I made a new friend. You are never going to believe who it is._

_Yamamoto-san!_

_Something happened, he helped me and walked me home. I then invited him over for dinner. Mama was so happy and excited. She made a feast! And for once it’s not because of that weirdo coming home. But I didn’t expect to become his friend! Not that I’m complaining. He’s nice and doesn’t really care what the others say about me. It’s nice, to have someone else like me. But I don’t know if I want him to know about the ice and snow. I’ll keep it a secret for now._

_I hope this letter reaches you after you get to America. Mama said that it will take awhile, since America is realllllllly far away. But all I care about is for it to get to you._

_Hope to hear from you soon!_

_Your friend,_

_Tsunayoshi Sawada_


End file.
